


Breaking Promises

by Writerofthelorde



Category: Coco (2017)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comforting, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff, Fluffy, Gen, Hurt, Love, Mamá Coco - Freeform, Miguel is sad, Promise, Rivera shoes, Sad, Sad with a Happy Ending, Sweet, breaking a promise, curse, soft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-03-17 23:30:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13669557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writerofthelorde/pseuds/Writerofthelorde
Summary: Imelda and Héctor give Miguel his blessing, except Imelda once again adds the condition to never forget how much his family loves him. Except... sometimes it's hard to remember that. A story about love, family and friendship.





	1. Chapter 1

One day, months after Miguel had returned from the land of the dead he lost all faith.  
  
For the past months he had been trying to explain to his family what had happened the day he disappeared. He had been trying to make his mamá Coco remember as much as possible about her papá Héctor. He tried to get her to tell him stories about her papá. He knew that due to her dementia she was more likely to remember things from when she was very young and so he tried, in the kindest ways possible, to trigger those memories.   
  
He knew that staying in the land of the dead depends on whether or not people remember you through the stories your family tells about you. He knew that just like with Chicharrón the memories that he made with Héctor weren’t going to count. He knew that he had to know his mamá Coco’s memories and tell them to everyone else in order for it to count. He played Remember Me for her on several occasions. He asked things about the stories Héctor had told him about her, in the hopes that she would tell him a story in return.   
  
Some days he would walk around Santa Cecilia with his mamá Coco in her wheelchair. He’d tell her about the things he did with her papá Héctor. The adventures they’d had together. He’d tell her how he was nice to him and cared about him even before they knew they were family.  
  
He’d sit down with her at mariachi plaza and share the snacks and drinks he had brought with her. He also always brought sunscreen and sunglasses for her, because he knew her skin and eyes were sensitive. They’d sit there and listen to the music and he’d try to make sure she would eat and drink, and not just hold the things in her hands. It was hard sometimes, taking care of her, but Miguel did it with all the love and warmth he could give her.  
  
Sometimes, just because he could, he’d tell her how much he loves her. That would always lead him to telling her how much her papá loves her, and how he’s been trying to cross the bridge for years. He’d leave out the details of how many years and how young her papá was when he died, because he was scared of hurting his mamá Coco. Something else he continued to tell her was how much her papá misses her.. and how much he misses him..  
  
Every now and then his stories worked, and made her tell him stories about her papá. Miguel would always shower her in kisses afterwards. Only after making sure no-one could see them of course.  
  
Miguel now knew 5 amazing stories about his papá Héctor that he continued to tell the others. Except the others were not that happy with it at all…  
  
The rest of his family kept trying to stop him from trying to get mamá Coco to tell him more about his great great grandpapá. And every time she did tell him something and he happily told the story to all his family members, they one by one continued to tell him that he had to stop. That he was going too far. That he had to get his head out of the clouds and get back to the read world.  
  
They didn’t believe him when he told them about everything that had happened to him in the land of the dead. They told him that he had great imagination but that he shouldn’t let that imagination get to him.  
  
They didn’t like him talking about his papá Héctor at all. His Abuelita still stopped him every single time he so much as started talking about him. In return he just kept trying extra hard, but his Abuelita would just get angry with him.   
  
Over time everyone was so done with all this ‘nonsense’ Miguel was doing that it only let to fighting. At first when the fighting started it _only_  bothered Miguel at the time of the fight… but when the fighting became an every day thing…   
  
…he started to feel really bad. He started to turn away from his family and to hide up in his hideout on the roof way more. He started to come home really late after school, because he would go out into town immediately after school to spread the stories about Héctor and to find things that would proof his stories and would restore Héctor’s legacy. But this also led to more fighting with his family. He got grounded a lot, and they would fight more than once a day. Miguel felt truly horrible about it.  
  
On this day, months after all of this started, Miguel lost faith. He had just run away from fight number three of the day and he was sat upstairs in his, no longer secret, hideout, with his knees pulled up to his chest and his arms wrapped around those knees. He was crying violently.   
  
He was only trying to help, but everything he did, even though he did them out of love, never seemed to be good enough. Everything he did only seemed to make his family hate him… Everything he did only seemed to make his family not love him anymore…  
  
   
  
  
Imelda, Héctor and the rest of the Rivera family were sitting their ‘living’ room, chatting about a crazy costumer they had in the shop quite some years ago, when they were all still alive. It was a man who had been whining about how horrible his shoe was and how the colour didn’t go well with his jacket. They had told him that the shoe was exactly as he ordered it, and the man had told them that yes it was, but it didn’t match with his jacket so they had to change it. When they explained to him that he’d have to pay for a whole new pair of shoes the man had lost it. Oscar and Felipe had to escort the man out of the shop.  
  
They were all laughing loudly at the memory. Héctor was laughing too, but not as loudly as the others. He loved being included in these things, and he knew that a lot of the stories they told specifically for him, so he would have memories with them too. He felt very grateful for it.  
  
Suddenly they heard crying. Everyone’s laughter died down and the room was filed with confusion. Héctor was the first to recognise who it was.   
  
“Miguel?”


	2. What happened?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miguel arrives in the land of the dead.

“Miguel?” He called out, looking around to see where the crying was coming from.   
  
“Papá Héctor?” Miguel croaked out weakly.   
  
Héctor stood up and looked around the dresser in the room, thinking that was where the sound was coming from. Sure enough he spotted Miguel, curled up on the floor. He quickly stepped over to him.   
  
"Papá Héctor!" Miguel exclaimed sadly, the second he saw him. He leaped up and let himself fall against Héctor. Unfortunately Héctor wasn't prepared, making his bones fall apart, and Miguel fall onto the floor and on top of several of those scattered bones.   
  
This scared Miguel and he quickly pushed himself up to his knees. He looked around and noticed he was in a stranger's house and the rest of his dead relatives were there too. They all had concerned looks on their faces and they were slowly moving closer. Miguel yelped out and crawled backwards against the wall he had been sitting against a moment ago. He pulled his knees up and cried into them more than before.   
  
It wasn't that he was really scared of _them_ or anything, but he had already been crying because he was upset and suddenly, without moving, he was somewhere else with different people and he was just… startled.   
  
Imelda helped Héctor to get his bones back together. She knew she didn't have to, but now that they were growing back together, she liked to. She felt like she owed him at least the little things. Héctor of course, didn’t agree with that at all, but that wouldn’t stop her.  
  
"Gracias mi amor." Héctor told her with a gentle smile before turning to Miguel. He stepped over and stood next to him for a moment, and then slid down the wall to sit down next to him.   
  
"Mijo.." Héctor said softly. "What happened?" He rested a hand on Miguel's knee.   
  
Miguel instinctively put his hand on top of Héctor's, who smiled at the gesture.   
  
Miguel didn’t answer the question. After a minute of silence Miguel looked up. His face full of disbelieve that everyone was still there. He looked to his side and wanted to lean in to hug him again the second he was in his line of sight, but he hesitated. "If I hug you, will you fall apart again?" He asked with a sniffle.   
  
Héctor laughed warmly. "No, mijo. Go for it.” he said as he opened his arms.  
  
In a heartbeat he threw himself against Héctor again. Héctor, as promised, did not fall apart this time and so he hugged him tightly. Héctor laughed surprised and looked up at Imelda, who seemed just as pleasantly surprised as him.   
  
He turned back to Miguel and hugged him back tightly, nuzzling his face into his hair and closing his eyes.  
"I've missed you, mijo." Héctor muttered honestly, feeling sadness wash over him.   
  
Miguel hugged him closer and nuzzled against him a little more. "I.. I didn't know if you were still here.." He sniffled and felt himself fill up with a different kind of sadness. He remembered how upset he had been the first days after he had gotten back. He had immediately tried to get back to the land of the dead. He had been so sad that he didn't know if Héctor was alright or not.   
  
New tears pushed out of his eyes and he held on even tighter. The tears fell out of his eyes as if they were cars racing towards a finish. He tried to stifle his sobs, but instead started shaking violently because of it. “I didn’t know if I was on time… I didn’t know if you had been forgotten or not…” Miguel finally let out a loud sob.  
  
"Miguel... Mijo..." Héctor spoke sadly, trying to pull Miguel out of the hug so he could look him in the eye.   
  
At first Miguel didn’t want to let go, but then he did anyway, because he trusted Héctor. If Héctor thought it was necessary to stop the hug, then he would listen to that.  
  
Héctor smiled sadly at him. ”You did it. I'm here because of you.” He told him sweetly. He looked down in sadness and sighed, tears forming in his own eyes. “I'm so sorry there was no way to let you know… We tried. We tried to find a way to get a message across to you, but there was no way. I'm sorry, mijo." Héctor let go of his tears as he looked the sweet, crying, 12 year old boy in the eye.   
  
"You don't have to say sorry..!" Miguel said as he reached out and dried his great great grandpapa’s face. Héctor reached up and cupped Miguel's cheek, to which Miguel immediately leant his face into the hold of the skeleton hand.   
  
Héctor smiled at him. He truly did see him as a son. Miguel meant the world to him, and he felt like he wouldn't in a million years be able to thank him for all that he's done for him. He felt like with Miguel, as short as the moments had been, he had a chance to be a father. He had only really been a papá for Coco for four years and never got to see her go through any of her other years. He could see that with a 12 year old things are completely different, but the role of the papá still came naturally to him.   
  
"We..." Héctor started. Miguel opened his eyes and looked at him expectantly. "We did in a way get messages from you. Not only did I get much stronger from people remembering me, but sometimes when new people die they tell us about you. They've told us how you're working to let everyone know what really happened. Miguel... Thank you so much."   
  
He held onto both his cheeks and pressed a kiss to his forehead. He definitely couldn't thank him enough.   
  
Miguel smiled weirdly at the gesture and the strange feeling of a skeleton’s… lips.. on his forehead. ”That felt.. odd.." He mumbled. Imelda laughed warmly at him; he was such a cute little boy.  
The laugh suddenly made Miguel remember the others were around too.   
  
He looked up at his mamá Imelda and Héctor let go of him, knowing that he would want to hug her too.  
  
"Mamá Imelda. You're really here too!" Miguel exclaimed.   
  
Imelda chuckled. "Well, technically you're here, but yes..!" She told him with a gentle smile. Miguel ignored what she said and just got up to hug her. He hugged her so tightly she thought if she had still been alive she wouldn't have been able to breathe because of it. She ran her hand through his hair and when he backed off a little she smiled. She dried the new tears on his face and then planted several kisses on his face and hair.   
  
"Thank you so much mijo." She told him. "For everything." She opened her one arm up for Héctor to step closer. She rubbed her hand over his back and leant her head towards him. "For _everything_.” She repeated with emphasis.   
  
She looked at Héctor with a smile and Héctor just simply couldn't help himself when he quickly kissed her. Unlike with other kisses Miguel didn't actually shiver and pull faces at this one; he was glad to see they had gotten back together. It was still gross and he didn’t actually want to look at it, but it was good to know that they were both happy now.  
  
"You've done enough chamaco." Héctor told him when he turned back towards him. "It's all okay now. I have all I could possibly want. I have my wife back, I have a familia, and I..." He hesitated. "...can I cross the bridge next time?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will he be able to cross the bridge? I don't know! Stay tuned for the next chapter and find out..!


	3. Determination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can Héctor cross the bridge next time?

"...can I cross the bridge next time?"  
  
He asked realising he wasn't sure yet. He knew that the chances of them still having a photo of him were very, _very_ small… but Héctor just couldn’t stop being hopeful. There wasn’t a lot of hope left in him. He had gone over every single scenario and hadn’t quite figured out a way he would still cross the bridge, but he just couldn’t stop hoping. He wanted to see his Coco so bad.  
  
The hopeful look on his face was down right heartbreaking, and everyone waited for Miguel’s answer with a heavy heart.  
  
Miguel lit up. ”Sí! Mamá Coco had a photo of you in her nightstand!" Miguel exclaimed happily.   
  
Héctor smiled brightly and just about contained himself; He only let out a soft grito. Imelda and Miguel laughed at him endearingly.   
  
After that though, Imelda turned back to Miguel and looked at him sternly. “Miguel, did you go through our daughter’s things?” Miguel turned red in a heartbeat, but quickly shook his head. “No of course not..! I mean, I- I would never..!” Miguel awkwardly stumbled over his words, trying to explain how of course he didn’t do that, but also trying to stay polite to his great great grandmamá.  
  
“I sang Remember me to her. The lullaby version.” He told her quickly, before turning to Héctor.  
  
“She sang it with me…” Héctor’s mouth fell open and his eyes filled with tears, and love.  
  
“When I told her how much you love her she told me that she secretly kept all your letters.” To this Imelda’s mouth fell open. She didn’t know that. She was happy that she did, but she wished she had known. She wished she had known she could just ask her daughter for one of his letters on the days that she missed him most.  
  
“She reached into her nightstand and pulled out the letters, but also the piece of your family photo that mamá Imelda had ripped off.”  
  
Héctor looked over to Imelda, who pulled an awkward smile before quickly looking away. Héctor leant over and quickly kissed her cheek.  
  
“We taped it back onto the rest of the photo.” Miguel continued as if nothing had happened.  
  
Héctor couldn’t help himself when he let out another grito; he was just so happy. Everyone in the room laughed happily.  
  
"But..." Miguel started when they were done laughing. "I'm not done yet." He said determined.   
  
"Mijo, I have everything that I wished for." Héctor promised him, pulling Imelda closer to him subconsciously. She smiled at him and leant just a little bit closer in return.  
  
"But you deserve more." Miguel countered as if it were obvious. "All those years you've been miserable here all because of Ernesto's doing..! I want everyone to know what he did. I'm not going to stop until everyone knows, until every statue of him is gone, every street and plaza named after him changed to you, I want every reminder of him gone. He made you miserable. He made mamá Imelda hate you when you didn't deserve that…”  
  
Imelda looked down sadly and Héctor quickly pulled her closer and leant his head against her’s for a moment.  
  
Miguel felt bad for making her sad. He hand’t meant it that way. He completely understood that she was angry. If Héctor had actually been how Ernesto had painted him for her, then she would have been more than right to hate him. But Héctor isn’t like that at all and Ernesto shouldn’t have made her think that he was.  
  
“…He was so happy about murdering you..” Miguel continued a little out of breath. “…that he put it in the film to gloat about it..!" Miguel had to breathe in deeply from rambling so passionately but he just continued like it didn't matter. "He ruined your life and he took so much away from you. I'm not going to stop until every last hint of him is gone. Until everyone knows who you are and that you wrote all those songs and that _you_ are the greatest musician of all time."   
  
Everyone was listening with mouths open and were just completely awestruck. He clearly loved Héctor so much.   
  
Imelda had tears in her eyes and blinked furiously to get them to go away. Héctor was just full on crying. He was bawling his eyes out.   
  
He picked Miguel up and hugged him tighter than he probably should’ve, for a moment forgetting the kid was alive. "I love you so much Miguel." He told him through sniffles.   
  
"I love you too papá Héctor." He said with a bit of a laugh before just smiling contently and letting his great great grandpa hug him. He had to try hard not to remember that his familia in the land of the living didn't seem to love him much at all, but Héctor's arms were so tightly wrapped around him that it didn't take long for him to push the thought away.   
  
Mamá Imelda joined in on the hug and kissed both their heads. "I love you two so much." She said before sniffling. Héctor and Miguel both looked up at her, and then at each other with a single raised eyebrow after they had seen the tears on her face. They both grinned and then in the same moment leant in to kiss her cheeks.   
  
Mamá Imelda laughed happily and hugged her boys closer.   
  
"Rivera hug!!" Tía Rosita exclaimed before attacking the three in a hug. The others soon joined.   
  
When everyone backed away from the hug Imelda and Héctor stepped away for a moment, to let the other family members say hello to him properly. After all, they weren’t the only ones who had missed him.  
  
Imelda put her hand on Héctor's chest and gazed up at him as he looked at Miguel.   
  
He looked back at her when he noticed her staring. He cupped her jaw and kissed her softly.   
  
"He said you were miserable.. How... What makes him say that? Did you _tell_ him that?” She asked softly. "I don't know, I never told him.. I guess he just figured it out." Héctor said with a shrug.  
  
Imelda's heart sank. She had been hoping he would deny it, but instead he just confirmed that he had been miserable all those years. It made sense.. He had nothing.. But she had just been hoping that maybe he had created something good for himself or found something good. Just so he wouldn’t have have been miserable all that time.   
  
She kissed him again, a little longer this time. "You know I love you right?" She asked more shyly than she had been in a long time. “Yes, mi amor." Héctor answered smiling brightly. "And you know I love _you_ right?" He asked in return.   
  
Imelda laughed for a second or two. "It couldn't be more obvious." She told him with a wink. She couldn't help herself when she leant in and kissed him again.   
  
Their kiss was soft and bittersweet. They held each other lovingly and not only Héctor, but also Imelda was savouring every split second of it. They both had to wait for so long before they got back together.   
  
When they backed off everyone was looking at them. Tío Oscar and tío Felipe seemed disgusted but were secretly immensely happy for their sister and brother-in-law. Tía Victoria was missing her own partner and thought about paying her a visit later that day. tía Rosita was just simply ecstatic for the both of them. Papá Julio was happy to see his mamá in law happy again; he had seen her miserable for way too long. Miguel felt partially grossed out, and partially out of this world happy for the both of them, but of course he would never admit that last part.  
  
Everyone laughed awkwardly after the silence that lasted a little longer than Héctor was comfortable with.   
  
“So I’m really back in the land of the dead, huh?” Miguel questioned after the laughing had died down.  
  
Héctor nodded at him and stepped closer. “Do you know how you got here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like the new chapter! Let me know what you think. <3 The next one will be up in a couple of days. <3


	4. Figuring it out

Héctor nodded at him and stepped closer. “Do you know how you got here?” He asked reaching out his hands to touch his shoulders.  
  
When Miguel noticed his extended hands he thought Héctor wanted him to hold his hands, and so he reached out too, and placed his hands in Héctor’s.  
  
Héctor was startled for a moment and then realised that this exact situation had happened before… with him and Imelda…   
  
Years ago when they were young Imelda had done the same as he just did, reach out both her hands to touch his shoulders, and he had done the same as Miguel just did; reach out and place his hands in hers. Imelda had reacted surprised for a moment, but just ended up rolling with it, and that’s exactly what Héctor was going to do now.   
  
He stepped closer a little bit, and kept holding his hands. “Did you steal from the dead again?” He asked carefully, with a bit of a smirk. Miguel blushed a little bit, but shook his head. “No I didn’t!” He quickly answered. Imelda shot him a look. “Honestly..!” Miguel told her upon seeing her facial expression.  
  
“Besides, that doesn’t work anyway, I’ve tried.” He said before realising that maybe he shouldn’t have admitted that.  
  
“You did what now?” Several of his family members replied. He quickly looked away from all of them, but in the corner of his eyes he could see Héctor smiling… _proudly_. He was surprised Héctor would be proud of him for trying, but he thought that maybe Héctor understood _why_ he had tried.   
  
“Care to explain, young man?” Imelda said when he didn’t react. “Um…” Miguel mumbled awkwardly. “I just had to make sure!” He said defensively, but with a shrug, as if to show it was obvious. “I needed to know if papá Héctor was okay.”   
  
Héctor smiled warmly, and got tears in his eyes; this kid was truly something else.. He used Miguel’s hands to pull him against his chest and then hugged him tightly. He wanted to tell him he was proud of him, but he knew Imelda would have her shoe in her hand before he could blink and would smack it against the back of his head if he did. So instead he backed away from the hug and gave Miguel a meaningful look. He hoped Miguel would understand what it meant.   
  
Miguel smiled sweetly, with tears in his eyes. Héctor nodded, suddenly realising he also still had tears in his eyes. “I’m here. I’m okay.” He uttered as he pulled him back into the hug.  
  
He was at a loss for words, but after a short while of silent hugging, Imelda stepped in. “Is there something else you did that could be the reason?” She asked gently.  
  
Miguel backed away from the hug and shook his head. “No.”   
  
“Well then we should find someone who can help us. We need to make sure you are okay.” She said determent. Héctor agreed and so did the rest of the familia.   
  
“We should find that clerk who helped us out last time.” Tía Victoria offered. “You’re right mjia. We should.” Imelda told her. She nodded once and then just stepped out the door, assuming everyone would follow. Everyone quickly listened and followed her outside.   
  
  
During their walk to the right building to find the man that helped them the first time, Miguel felt so bad. He felt bad for making his mamá Imelda think that he meant what he had said in a mean way towards her. He tried to think of a way to explain to her that he didn’t mean that she was wrong for hating Héctor, but that Ernesto was wrong for _making_ her feel that way. Or something like that...  
  
“Mamá Imelda?” He tried softly, as he started to walk next to her. “I…” He started off, unsure of how to tell her. “I didn’t mean.. to be.. mean.. I-I didn’t mean that what you did… um…” Imelda looked at Miguel, who scratched the back of his head, just like Héctor used to do when he got awkward about something.   
  
“I uh… didn’t mean it.. in a m-mean.. an-angry way..” He tried again, frowning to himself because he just couldn’t find the right words to say what he wanted to say.  
  
“It was Ernesto! What _he_ made you do..! I-If that makes sense..?” He didn’t dare to look her in the eye. Why couldn’t he just say what he needed to say?  
  
“What you did wasn’t bad, but.. no but it was bad, but I mean- it wasn’t you.. I mean it was but you didn’t do it on purpose.. Ernesto _made_ you feel that way and made you do that and it wasn’t your fault and I didn’t mean that… you know…” He rambled awkwardly, stressing out more and more.  
  
Imelda didn’t say anything. She was paying attention, but she was letting him try over and over again. It might have been a little bit mean, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't enjoy it.   
  
Miguel breathed in deeply and tried again. “I didn’t m-mean to say that you.. are- were wrong or anything.. or mean or bad or an-anything like that.. I just meant that papá Héctor wasn’t as bad as you thought he was and you thinking that he was hurt him, because that wasn’t true and- no wait that’s just making it worse..." He sighed deeply and was clearly upset. "I just mean that the wa-”  
  
Imelda stopped walking, cutting him off abruptly, and took ahold of his face. With a soft laugh she told him to stop apologising. “It’s fine. I know what you meant. You don’t have to keep saying sorry and trying to explain yourself, mijo. I know how you meant it.”   
  
Miguel sighed out relieved and then smiled awkwardly as a reaction to Imelda’s ‘eyebrow’ raise. Imelda kissed his forehead before letting go. “Let’s keep going.” She told him and then extended her hand for Miguel to hold. Miguel gladly accepted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go my lovely peeps, chapter 4 <3 I hope you like it! Chapter 5 shall be posted in a couple days hopefully.


	5. Bottled up emotions always end up slipping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miguel has been bottling up his emotions for a while now. That bottle just got pushed over..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So before y'all start on this chapter I would just like to say two things, first of all, thank you all so much for reading and for supporting me. It has really made me feel better during some rough times. <3
> 
> Second of all, I am currently on a holiday, and I am not sure if I'll be able to update this story frequently as I will not have much writing time. I'm very sorry for that, but just know that the story isn't over and I'm not abandoning it. I'll update as soon as I can. <3

When they arrive at the clerk’s office, they explain how they were just going about their day and suddenly Miguel appeared in their house. They went around asking questions, and trying to figure out how he got to the land of the dead, how he actually got to their house specifically, since last time he got cursed he didn’t move at all, but just was able to go to the land of the dead, and more.  
  
“And, if you know, could you explain why he ended up in that spot in the house?” Tío Felipe asked. Tío Oscar looked at him with a confused expression. “Why do you want to know that?” He asked his brother.  
  
“Because, the kid arrived here out of nowhere and popped up somewhere we couldn’t even see him. If we hadn’t heard him we hadn’t known he was there. If he had popped up here while asleep we might’ve never found him, and he might’ve accidentally stayed here too long and died.” He explained.  
  
Miguel held onto Imelda’s hand more tightly and leant against her side. Imelda let go of him for a moment, to grab her shoe and smack her brother on the back of the head. “You’re scaring him..!” She exclaimed as she pointed her shoe in his face. Oscar quickly pulled his brother backwards, fearing the shoe just as much as his twin.  
  
Imelda shot her brothers another look, before putting her shoe back on and pulling the boy close again. “don’t mind them, mijo.” She whispered to him.  
  
Héctor took over and asked the clerk some questions that were actually important to them and in the end the clerk ended up searching for the same book he had last time.  
  
He sat down in the middle of his desk and started reading. “Veamos… Veamos…” The clerk muttered to himself.  
   
“Well..!” He started when he finished reading about a minute later. Miguel stepped forward, looking at the clerk with anticipation. He really wanted to know what was going on.  
  
“…there are two options here..” The man started. “Either you’re lying and you did steal something that belongs to the dead, in which case you are cursed, or-” The man couldn’t finish his sentence.   
  
“But I didn’t..!” Miguel exclaimed indignantly. The judging glare of his mamá Imelda made him several layers of uncomfortable and he gulped.  
  
“I already told you, that doesn’t work..!” He added carefully, but in disbelieve. Mamá Imelda’s stern look became angry in a heartbeat and Miguel took a few steps back. “I’m sorry!” He quickly exclaimed. “I didn’t mean to be rude..!” He dug his head, fearing the shoe she was inevitably reaching for.  
  
Imelda softened and sighed to calm herself down. Héctor was by her side and gently rubbed his hand over her arm.  
  
“I think he’s telling the truth, mi amor.” He told her softly.  
  
“I am..!” Miguel said frustratedly. “I didn’t steal anything..! I was just suddenly here..!” He had to look away when he remembered what had happened before he had suddenly transported to somewhere else. He got tears in his eyes again and he took a couple steps away from his family, furiously blinking his tears away.   
  
“Well…” The clerk finally continued. “…your other option is that you have broken the promise you made when you accepted your blessing last time.” He told them when he turned back towards him.  
  
Miguel breathed in sharply. He could feel his heart starting to race. He realised this was the reason. He knew for sure now.  
  
“Did you add any conditions when you gave him your blessing?” The man asked the family members.  
  
They all looked at Imelda, who frowned.  
  
“My only condition was that he remembers how much his family loves him…” Imelda said confused.   
  
Everyone was silent for a moment, it was clear that this was what had happened. Miguel had turned his face away from his family and stood there biting his lip in order not to start crying.  
  
“Miguel..” Imelda started. “Did you forget how much your family loves you?”  
  
Miguel only slightly turned his face towards his family, and rolled his eyes, pulling a face. He was _almost_ able to hold back a sarcastic chuckle. “They don’t.” He muttered bitterly.  
  
A choir of “What?” and “huh?” was heard throughout the room.  
  
“Miguel, what are you talking about?” Imelda asked him carefully, but sternly.  
  
“They don’t.” He said harshly, turning back to face his family properly this time. “They don’t love me.”   
  
“What are you talking about, Miguel of course your family loves you.” His tía Victoria told him with a confused tone.  
  
“They don’t!” Miguel exclaimed angrily. “All we do is fight!” He yelled with a quivering bottom lip and heavy lines in between his eyebrows.  
  
He looked down sadly and frowned. “They don’t believe me…” He uttered defencelessly.   
  
Héctor stepped over to him quickly and tried to wrap his arms around his great great grandson, but Miguel pushed him away.  
  
“I don’t want your pity!” He exclaimed, his emotions getting out of control.   
  
“You claim they love me..” He pointed his finger at Imelda. Héctor took a few steps back. “…but all they do is tell me that what happened here didn’t happen at all! They don’t believe any of this is real! They believe you are out there somewhere, but they don’t believe I could ever possibly get there too. Every time I talk about any of you or what happened here they tell me that I have a great imagination, but that I shouldn’t be so stuck in it! That I should stay in the _real_ world, where real things happen and that I never met any of you!” Miguel angrily wiped away the tears that ran down his cheeks.  
  
“They don’t understand what makes me think that papá Héctor deserves better! They don’t believe me when I tell them that Ernesto de la _suckz_ murdered him or why that matters! We fight every single day, because I refuse to stop trying until they believe me! Until they understand that papá Héctor wanted to come home and that he didn’t mean to be away for so long! That he died because he was on his way back to mamá Imelda and Coco and that Asshole murdered him!”   
  
Imelda raised a finger at him in return. “Miguel, language.” She told him, trying not to sound like she was trying hard not to cry.  
  
“Do you really think I care about my language right now? That _asshole_ murdered your husband! He was trying to come back home to you! He chose you! But that _asshole_ took away that choice and made him unable to ever come back to you an- and Coco! He missed out on a whole life! A life that he wanted! With the people he loves! And the only one who can help make everyone realise what happened, and make everyone realise who really is the musician, who really wrote those songs, and who he really loved, is me! I am the only one who can go back to the land of the living and try to make people understand! But my living family wants to stop me from doing any of that!” Miguel unwillingly let out a loud sob.  
  
“They don’t believe me…" he repeated completely broken. "...we fight _every day_ … Every time I talk about it, every time they ask me about it and I reply as if it actually happened… which it did!” He interrupted himself because he felt like he needed to prove it, even to the family who was there when it happened.   
  
“… every time that happens they just tell me that I have a great imagination and they act like that’s some kind of compliment..! They just tell me I make up wonderful stories…” He sat down on the floor, feeling weak from the crying and yelling.  
  
“They’re doing everything they can to stop me from getting the truth out there. They just tell me that it’s great that I’m trying to make sure mamá Coco remembers her papá, but that I’m going too far. I spend too much time after school searching the town for things that will help make people believe me… They yell at me for that every single day.. they don’t love me…” He sighed sadly, all out of tears by now.  
  
Héctor thudded down next to him, tears running down his face rapidly. He didn’t say anything and just pulled Miguel into a hug. He held him tightly and cried into his hair. Miguel held on weakly, tired from pouring all of his energy into his explanation.   
  
“I’m so sorry.” Héctor sobbed. Miguel started crying all over again at the sound of Héctor crying, and he pushed him weakly. “ _You_ didn’t do anything wrong.” he uttered.  
  
Imelda let herself fall onto the ground next to them and wrapped her arms around the both of them. The rest of the family sat down around them as well, and hugged each other tightly.  
  
“Miguel, we love you so much.” Tía Rosita told him sadly. “We really do.” They all agreed together. Miguel just sat there… crying his heart out.. unable to say a single word..  
  
He cried and cried, while his family tried to whisper sweet promises to him. “We love you, Miguel.” “We believe you, Miguel.” “Thank you so much, mijo.” “We’ll make them believe.” and many similar things as well.  
  
Miguel cried until he was all out of tears. Until his eyes were burning and dry. He was exhausted and could feel his eyes closing again. Imelda moved up and looked around to find the clerk. She found him silently leaving the room. They locked eyes and shared a saddened look. “How long does he have?” She asked him softly.  
  
“I’d say about 24 hours since he got here.” He told her, knowing she would be wise about how to handle the situation. “Gracias.” She whispered with her eyes closed.   
  
The man nodded at her and left the room to give them some privacy.  
  
She went back to her husband, who was still crying, and leant closer to him. “I think we should take him home.” She whispered. The family slowly pulled away from the hug and stood up.   
  
Miguel was close to passing out and Héctor scooped him up in his arms. He stood up and held him close. “let’s get you to a bed.” He told him softly. “Dead people have beds?” Miguel mumbled sleepily. “Yes, we like to nap from time to time.” Héctor explained gently.  
  
Miguel sighed out and nuzzled closer to Héctor, falling asleep in an instant. It was almost as if the land of the dead wanted him to sleep, because there was no way to fight it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! <3 Please let me know your thoughts! <3


	6. So what do we do now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long for me to have another chapter up! My holiday really isn't giving me much writing time..

They walked home in silence, everyone felt sad. When they got home Héctor and Imelda walked up to their bedroom and when Imelda had pulled away the sheets, Héctor put him down on the bed. Imelda gently tucked him in and kissed his forehead.   
  
They quickly walked down the stairs and got the family back together in the kitchen. “We need to talk.” Imelda said sternly. “How do we help this boy? How do we make him realise he’s loved?”  
  
“How do we make our living family realise he’s telling the truth?” Héctor added with a sigh. Imelda stood behind him and placed both her hands on her husband’s shoulders. Héctor leant closer to her and she kissed his head. He turned around with a sad and tired expression and Imelda softly kissed his lips. He smiled sadly at her. Imelda smiled back the same way.   
  
They brainstorm for a few hours to find ways to let their living family know, and for ways to let Miguel know that he’s loved. For ways to make sure he would _remember_ that they love him.    
  
At some point they all come to an agreement that there is just no way to let their living family know. All except Héctor.. he thinks it’s outrageous they’ve just pushed the option aside as a whole and he walks off, angrily talking to himself.   
  
In the mean time Miguel woke up and he rubbed his eyes sleepily. He looked around the room and at first was startled. He didn’t understand where he was until he looked at the nightstand and saw a photo of his mamá Imelda, papá Héctor and a young Coco. Miguel smiled at the picture.  
  
It was different from the one they had on the ofrenda. It was clearly taken on the same day, but it was a little bit sillier. Héctor was halfway through pulling a funny face, and Coco was half turned around to her papa, with a huge grin spread across her face. Imelda was rolling her eyes, but the corners of her mouth were turned upwards; she was clearly enjoying it.  
  
Miguel got out of bed and looked around the room some more. That was until he heard yelling downstairs. He frowned and quickly opened the door to listen. He couldn’t quite make out what they were saying and so he carefully and quietly walked down the stairs and back to his family.  
  
“After all that he’s done for me..!” He heard his papá Héctor yell out. He sounded… frustrated. “After all that he’s done for me, you’re telling me there’s nothing we can do to help him? There has got to be a way! I won’t accept it!” He heard him yell, almost angrily.   
  
“Héctor, we’ve thought of every option, but there is just no way.” he heard his mamá Imelda try desperately.  
  
“That’s not good enough!” Héctor yelled, now fully angry.  
  
“Héctor please…” Imelda said hurt. “I don’t want to fight.” She looked down sadly.  
  
“I-I’m not… I’m not fighting… I don’t mean to fight..” Héctor whimpered. “I’m sorry, Imelda.” He said as he took a step closer to her. At the same time Imelda walked over to him and they hugged each other tightly. Imelda held onto him as if the land of the dead depended on it.  
  
Due to this hug Héctor felt himself fall apart.. figuratively this time.. “I… I can’t do this Imelda…” He cried onto her shoulder. “After all that he’s done for me.. for us… and then there’s nothing we can do to help him..? I don’t like it- no; I hate it. I hate it so much.” He grumbled heavily upset.  
  
He closed his eyes tightly. “He’s done so much for me…” He uttered as he backed away from the hug. He stood there and closed his eyes, completely devastated. “Without him… I never would have been here.. I never would’ve had a family again… I never would’ve had you…” He reached out and gently touched Imelda’s cheek. She leant into the touch.  
  
“…I wouldn’t have been here at all anymore…”   
  
Imelda closed her eyes tightly. “You know I don’t want to think about that.” She told him sadly.  
  
“I know, mi amor, and I’m sorry… but what I’m saying is that I… that we have all of this right now, because of what Miguel did… and now he’s hurting… he’s hurting so much, you were there, you saw it..! He quite literally fell apart in front of our eyes.” He sighed angrily. “I can’t let this happen to him. I refuse to stop looking for a way.” He decided determinately.  
  
Suddenly they heard a sniffle and everyone’s heads shot up.   
  
“Miguel?” Every member of the family asked at the same time. They heard Miguel laugh shortly, before seeing the door to the stairway open slowly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's just a short chapter, but I hope you like it anyway! <3 I'm trying to write as much as I can during this holiday, and I'll be uploading the next chapter as soon as I have it ready! <3


	7. a sacrifice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took so long to post a new chapter, but here it finally is! I hope you like it! <3

Miguel opened the door slowly and stepped into the room with his family.  
  
He let out an awkward chuckle and removed the tears off his face with his sleeve. He walked over to Héctor and hugged him tightly. “You don’t have to do anything.” He whispered to him.  
  
“Mijo…” Héctor whispered, feeling lost. “You’re hurting..” He hugged him closer and threaded his fingers through his beautiful, thick, black hair. “You’re hurting, because you helped me back then.. and because you’re still helping me now… I can’t let that happen.” Héctor said overcome with regret and sadness.  
  
Miguel backed off from their hug and reached up to take ahold of both Héctor’s cheeks. Héctor leant down to help him out. Miguel looked him sternly in the eye.   
  
“There’s nothing you can do.” He told him sternly, but gently.   
  
Héctor closed his eyes and shook his head. "I can't accept that." He replied.   
  
Miguel held onto his cheeks even tighter. "You have to. There's nothing you can do and that's okay."   
  
"The only way I'll accept that is if you stop trying to restore my legacy." He replied calmly.   
  
"What? No, I can't..!" Miguel said, immediately upset again.  
  
Héctor sat him down on a chair and sat down in front of him in his own chair. The family stood around them, watching silently. Héctor reached over and placed his hands on Miguel’s knees. Miguel placed his hands on top of Héctor’s without a second thought to it.  
  
"Miguel, that's the only thing I can think of that will make the tension go away. If you stop trying to help me out, they'll be nicer to you, I’m sure of it."   
  
"No." Miguel said determined. "Don't you see? You are worth it. If I hadn't thought you were worth all the fighting I would've stopped already, but you are."  
  
Héctor felt like there was a giant lump stuck in his throat. He tried to swallow it away, but to no avail.  
  
"Mijo I already have everything I wished for.” Héctor said, choking back tears.  
  
Miguel shook his head. ”But not everything you deserve.” He replied in a heartbeat.  
  
“Miguel, I don't want anything more." Héctor tried to make him realise, but it seemed like the boy was just as stubborn as him.  
  
"You're only saying that because you don't give yourself enough credit. You're too modest. You act like you think the world of yourself, but you don't think you deserve anything more than what you currently have. Hell, you don't think you deserve what you have right now. But you do. And so much more than that. And I am not stopping until everything has been fixed.” Miguel told him passionately.   
  
Héctor tried to keep it together. He tried to bite down, and swallow harshly and keep it together… but within a matter of seconds he was bawling his eyes out again. Literally..  
  
Imelda ended up picking them up off the floor and gently putting them back into place for him. “Gracias” He mumbled with a sniffle, after he had calmed down a little.   
  
Imelda sat down on his lap afterwards and turned his head so he would look at her. “He’s right.” She told him, kissing away some tears on his one cheekbone. Héctor held his mouth in a fine line, to keep himself from crying more.  
  
“You still think you don’t deserve any of this, but you do. I love you, and you deserve that love. Miguel, _clearly_ , loves you, and you deserve that love.” She told him kindly but sternly. “The rest of _our_ familia loves you too and you deserve that love.” She added.  
  
Héctor closed his eyes tightly, not wanting his wife to see the look in his eyes; the look that confirmed his feelings about not deserving anything good.  
  
“And Miguel is right… you do deserve everything that he’s working on…” Imelda turned to Miguel. “…but Héctor is right too. Everything that you’re doing is very kind of you, mijo.. and I do agree that he deserves it, but Miguel you are hurting yourself along the way.” She reached over and gently caressed his cheek, because she felt like it, because it seemed to calm down the both of them. As usual Miguel leant into the touch and they both smiled sadly.   
  
Miguel sniffled and dried his face. “I can’t. I can’t stop. I can’t see de la _suckz_ everywhere in town, and hear him everywhere around and hear everyone talk about how great he is and how much they love him when he doesn’t deserve that love at all..!”  
  
The whole family was shocked for a moment. They looked around the room at the others, just to see that the others hadn’t realised that either. None of them had thought of that. How did they not think of that? Miguel kept being reminded of the murderer of his great great grandpa...  
  
Everyone knows his bond with Héctor is very strong.. and then for him to see and hear the man who murdered him.. everywhere in town… every day…  
  
Everyone was devastated.  
  
Miguel sighed heavily. “I just wish that at least mamá would understand that I’m telling the truth. I wish that for once there would be one person on my side.. and not the entire.. living family against me…”  
  
“I know, mijo.” Imelda said sadly.  
  
She got off Héctor’s lap, picked Miguel up with ease, and then sat down on the chair Miguel had just been sitting on; placing Miguel on her lap. She held him close and guided his head into the crook of her neck.   
  
“Coco used to love sitting with me like this.” She said softly. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Even though breathing doesn’t actually do anything for the dead, most of them still do it to relieve tension, or to express emotion.  
  
“It would remind me of her papá, he used to love to sit like this too…” She continued to tell him softly. “You, remind me of our Coco.” She added in a whisper.   
  
Miguel closed his eyes and enjoyed the way they were sitting. It was pleasant.  
  
The rest of the family was once again watching it with sadness deep in their hearts. Tía Rosita and papá Julio were holding each other tightly. Rosita was crying quietly and her brother just held onto her like he used to when they were kids.  
  
Tía Victoria was leaning against the wall, filled with sadness. She wondered if she should step over and comfort her tía, but her papá seemed to be in control of that. Tíos Oscar and Felipe were holding onto each other tightly, crying dramatically.  
  
Miguel was still tired, but he didn’t want to sleep more. He hadn’t seen his deceased family in so long, he figured he would sleep when he got back to the land of the living.  
  
He nuzzled in just a little bit closer and stayed like that for another couple minutes, until he was calm again. Until everyone in the room seemed to be calm again. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, before backing off and kissing his mamá Imelda on her cheek. “Gracias, mamá Imelda.” He told her with a cute smile, his one single dimple showing up for a moment.   
  
His mamá Imelda looked at him questioningly. “For the hug.” He explained. Imelda chuckled at him and looked over at her husband, who immediately agreed with the thoughts her face showed, but her mouth did not say; He’s just like their Coco.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know your thoughts! More soon! <3


	8. A Moment To Breathe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the Rivera family has a moment to breathe... Well, Miguel does at least.

Miguel turned to look at the rest of the familia in the room. “Papá Julio?” He asked.  
  
His great grandpapá let go of his sister and looked at Miguel.   
  
Miguel motioned for him to come over and his papá Julio did as told. He sat down on a chair close to him and looked at him expectantly.   
  
“Mamá Coco talks about you.” Miguel started. Papá Julio’s eyes widened and a smile spread across his face.   
  
“Well… She talks to me... as if I’m you.” Miguel corrected himself. “She… has dementia and sometimes she thinks I’m you.” He explained quickly. “Sometimes she says things like, remember when we used to dance together?”  
  
Papá Julio smiled, but then upon realising that his mamá Imelda could see him, quickly ducked his head.   
  
“I’m glad you let her dance.” Imelda said warmly. “I’m… I’m sorry that I never let her…” She admitted rather sadly.  
  
“Imelda, mi amor, you were just trying to cope. It’s okay.” Héctor told her kindly in return.   
  
Papa Julio looked up again and smiled at Miguel. "I used to love to dance with her. I wasn't very good at it, but she was a natural." He told him with so much warmth in his voice.   
  
Tia Victoria came to stand behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Except for that one time she fell." She added with a chuckle.   
  
Miguel noted it was odd to hear her laugh. He had only seen her being stern so far. He liked the change.  
  
Mama Imelda looked up surprised. "She fell?" She asked kind of bewildered. She thought she had successfully stopped her Coco from dancing, but if Victoria had seen her dance...   
  
Victoria didn't reply at first, she just walked off and came back with two chairs. She sat down on one and Tia Rosita sat down on the other. Tíos Oscar and Felipe sat down on the nearby couch.   
  
"She was dancing in the middle of the room, Elena and I had gotten out of school early that day and we secretly watched her dance for a long time. I remember Elena wanted to run to the shop to tell you." She pulled a sheepish face at her Abuelita.   
  
"After we saw mamá fall we ran over. I'd never seen her so embarrassed. She tried to shush us an tell us that it was nothing, that she wasn't dancing but, getting more fit for shoemaking. She gave us some horrible fake story about stretching and movement and shoemaking.." She smiled at the memory.   
  
"Elena didn't believe her for a second and it took a lot to talk her out of telling you." Victoria laughed shortly, but then felt bad for her abuelita.   
  
"It's a good memory." She told her grandmother sternly, knowing she would need to hear that.   
  
Papa Julio chuckled. "For you maybe. We spent the rest of the week taking care of her injury and finding ways to hide it from the others. Although I have to say the hiding part was kind of.. thrilling." He admitted to everyone.   
  
"Mama Coco never told me about that." Miguel said with a playful frown. "She did tell me that she sang to me when I was a baby." He declared proudly.   
  
Six gasps were heard in the Rivera living room. Miguel sat there with a satisfying smirk. Imelda made the boy on her lap face her and she scanned his face without a word.   
  
Miguel's satisfying smirk slowly fell down to a lesser smile, but then his mama Imelda smiled back at him.   
  
"Good to hear she's just a stubborn as her papa." She stated.   
  
Miguel could see her gaze move over to Héctor and he stood up to give them some space.   
  
Imelda stood up and returned to Hector's lap. She leaned with her elbow on the back of the seat and with her other hand she cupped his face. "I'm glad your music never left her memory. It's good to know she kept music and dancing in her life no matter what I told her. I'm.. I'm glad, I'm happy, that she is so much like you." She whispered to him.   
  
Everyone else was suddenly finding other things very important and interesting, knowing exactly what was coming up next and quite frankly, not wanting to be a part of it.   
  
Miguel was taking it all in with big eyes and his mouth slightly agape. His mama Imelda seemed like a different person; softer and more open to showing how she truly feels. Héctor was being as emotional as always and as in love as he had imagined he would be. Everyone else was almost _desperately_ trying to find something else to look at as if they had seen this a hundred times before and knew exactly what was coming up next.   
  
Miguel felt happy to see them back together, happy to know that he helped them get there, but also grossed out because ew kisses. He wasn't sure yet if skeleton kisses were worse than alive people kisses, but he _was_ sure that he didn't want to spend that much time thinking about it anyway.   
  
When Imelda and Héctor were done having their moment they get back to telling each other stories about Coco and about Elena and about everyone else.   
  
Tia Victoria tells a lot of stories about her mama. Papa Julio about his wife and both their daughters, embarrassing tia Victoria every now and then. Tia Rosita had put her chair down next to Miguel and had pulled him close as they listened to the stories.  
  
Imelda told them about Coco when she was still a kid. Héctor joined in to talk about Coco’s first four years. Everyone was happy and cheerful. They were smiling, and laughing so much that Miguel felt better than he had in months.  
  
That was until he remembered where he was and how he got there. He ran a finger over his eyebrow and tried to tell himself to think about other things. Except others had already realised what was going on and the room was silent.  
  
“Do we need to talk about something else?” Héctor asked carefully. “No. No, I’m okay.” Miguel assured him.  
  
And as he looked around the room at his lovely familia he realised that for now, he was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's literally been 6 months, but I'm finally back with another chapter! And I have more planned out too! I hope you love this new part! <3


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